We need a 'Steve Jobs of health care'

Obamacare is the largest tsunami to hit health care in a half century.

Tony Boutin

Published: August 10, 2012

To the editor: Physicians James Fieseher & Thomas Clairmont offered their views on the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, euphemistically called Obamacare ("Affordable Care Act just scratches the surface," July 13-26 NHBR). I wish to thank both doctors for speaking out, but my praise ends there.

Public insight from health professionals at every level has been sadly lacking from these entities as they fight for deals, position and tax breaks to protect their best interests behind closed doors. At a time when Americans most needed sage insight from health professionals, they have been left like sheep in the desert. Worse, the heated health care debate has distracted America from more urgent business, like increasing economic growth and producing jobs. The cost of Obamacare is not only its actual cost, but its distraction cost to economic progress which is so large it is incalculable.

Result: We teeter again on the brink of recession one more time. The doctor's views are pure poppycock. To suggest for a moment that Obamacare is some Band Aid borders on lunacy. Obamacare is the largest tsunami to hit health care in a half century. The equivalent of eight novels, 2,600 pages of potential loopholes of highly complex, conflicted, controversial, convoluted, highly interpretative medical and legal jargon that ties the cost and delivery of medical care into a giant, Gordian knot while ever so quietly passing increased authority and control of 18% of our economy to the Federal government.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of doctors in a recent survey admit considering retiring early or quitting because of Obamacare. Even if the survey is only half right the implications for availability point to disaster while the legislation provides not one penny to expand capacity but tens of billions for IRS enforcement. Most importantly, had it been honestly labeled a tax, every person knows Obamacare would have never exited the operating room of Congress alive.

Obamacare, if nothing else, is open-heart surgery on the health care system of America. Come on docs, we need to build our health care fix on a bipartisan foundation of leading-edge thinking that the American people can stand behind that stops pitting government's best interests against those of private enterprise -- ditto for the best interests of Democrats and Republicans.

What we need is a visionary Steve Jobs of health care. Who thinks Steve would be backing the Band -Aid loony logic of the two doctors? Steve Jobs would be ripping heath care to its bony skeleton and fixing it with iPhone and iPad ingenuity.

This article appears in the August 10 2012 issue of New Hampshire Business Review